# Why aren't middle school girls' sports as well attended as boys'? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 23, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-middle-school-girls-sports-as-well-attended-as-boys/613704 "2012-02-23T05:41:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-middle-school-girls-sports-as-well-attended-as-boys/613704/21 "2012-02-24T06:31:36Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Yeah to all of this. If superiority on the field was the deciding factor, then why attend any sporting events for kids? They’re all inferior players. > > To put it plainly, society rallies behind men and boys who are going to “battle” for them. Girls and women aren’t expected to go to “battle” so their efforts on the field get ignored, even by family members. We, as a society, also like to align ourselves with men. We are proud to have guys represent us, because men are strong and capable. In contrast, to be associated with anything feminine is embarrassing; we recoil at the thought of being represented by a bunch of weak, emotional girls. Which is why girl team’s usually aren’t called, for example, the “Tigers”. They get called the “Tigerettes”. You know, so that no one is tricked into thinking that they’re really representing the true mascot. > > Yall know that this is how people feel. Let’s keep it real. That’s real nutty, if that’s what you mean. There’s gender roles that aren’t being shaken anytime soon, but a school or whatever are perfectly happy to be represented by women in many ways. I mean, personally I think “you’re never going to be better than the boys” is a generally wide undercurrent women have to overcome because it’s ALMOST universally untrue, but in sports it’s a lock down fact. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-middle-school-girls-sports-as-well-attended-as-boys/613704/22 "2012-02-24T13:38:23Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > It’s difficult to know when the first period is going to start. _:golf clap:_ Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-middle-school-girls-sports-as-well-attended-as-boys/613704/23 "2012-02-25T02:23:44Z")
Another reason is friends. When my boys school plays, lots of students go to the game to see their friends playing. When girls’ school (or the girls team on a coed) comes, it’s just the team a parents. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-middle-school-girls-sports-as-well-attended-as-boys/613704/24 "2012-02-25T05:15:42Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > You’re saying they could have beat the boy’s team? It would be quite unusual at any level of basketball (and essentially all other sports) that females could outplay males of the same age and experience. Not at all true in soccer. Up until around 12-13 the girls teams regularly dominate in a well trained/coached club. Girls mature more quickly physically, and I think even more of a factor is the ability to use strategy. Boys that age just want to score and will do whatever they can to try to drive the ball to the goal. Girls tend to pass and set up the better play. [Quote=Ají de Gallina] When my boys school plays, lots of students go to the game to see their friends playing. When girls’ school (or the girls team on a coed) comes, it’s just the team a parents. [/Quote] This is very true. I think the number of parents is fairly similar. It is the number of student fans that takes the huge hit. I really don’t know the reason for this. My daughter’s soccer team finished their season ranked first in the nation in the ESPN rankings as well as the coaches poll, and they had good turnouts, but the boy’s team regularly had many more students attend (not sure if they were nationally ranked at all). I say this as a parent of two boys and a girl who all play at a very competitive level ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-middle-school-girls-sports-as-well-attended-as-boys/613704/25 "2012-02-25T17:50:34Z")
I went to a women’s college that has since gone co-ed, which also meant adding men’s sports. AFAIK they didn’t introduce any totally new sports and there’s definitely no football, but there are now men’s teams for the same sports that already had women’s teams – soccer, rugby, etc. This is a Division III school, so they’re presumably not getting many of the really good high school athletes of either sex. Total enrollment is down about 1/3 since I was a student there a decade ago, and male students are in the minority. Despite all this, I get these irritating peppy mailings from the alumnae office about how attendance at sporting events is up thanks to the addition of men’s sports. I don’t know who these people are that suddenly started coming to games once there were men playing – there’s a much larger, Division I college in the same town, so it’s not like the locals were desperate for any opportunity to see men’s sports – but there are enough of them to make a noticeable difference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-middle-school-girls-sports-as-well-attended-as-boys/613704.md?page=1)